TurnOutTheLightsAndWakeUpRefreshedWithWakeAlarm'sLatestUpdate

Mornings are definitely hard for a lot of people (me included), but waking up can be made a bit easier when you have the proper alarm set up. The App Store is armed with a myriad of alarm clock apps, but for the most part, they’re all the same. Except for a few, such as the exceptional Wake Alarm, which I reviewed back in May.

If you aren’t familiar with the app, then let me introduce you. Wake Alarm is a simply-designed alarm app that is reminiscent of apps like Solar Weather and Rise Alarm Clock. It’s beautiful, intuitive, and has plenty of features to make your mornings easier. Unlike Rise, it supports multiple alarms (up to eight) that are set by spinning the dials, and stored alarms are activated with one step by pulling them down from the top of the screen.

The thing that really set Wake Alarm apart from the competition were the ways of shutting the alarms off in the morning. Users could do Slap & Flip, Shake, and of course the traditional Swipe. The Slap & Flip and Shake methods require a bit more work to turn off, so it definitely helps get you up in the morning. To use these gestures though, you need the app in the foreground, but there is a nifty Night Mode to keep the screen dim while you sleep.

With that introduction out of the way, Wake Alarm got a hefty upgrade this morning, making the app even better. First off, the Night Mode is heavily improved, now allowing users to increase or decrease the brightness of the screen by swiping up or down. This gives you full customization of how dim or bright you want your iPhone screen to be while you sleep, which is handy.

A “Very Hard Shake” option has been added, if you are like me and have a really hard time getting up in the morning — this should definitely help you out! Snoozing is always a must, and there is now a five-minute option added, just so you can catch a few more Z’s. There is also a toggle to turn the vibration off if you so desire.

Along with these major additions, there are a few minor tweaks, such as reduced number of reminder notifications (these let you know to keep the app open for the alarms) and the fix of the AM/PM bug. There are plenty of other fixes in the update to make Wake Alarm even better.

I’ve quite enjoyed having Wake Alarm in my arsenal, as it is persistent enough and takes quite a bit of effort to turn off, getting you energized for the day. If you’re looking for a great alarm clock app for your iPhone to help you roll out of bed each morning, then I highly recommend checking out Wake Alarm.